Other studies

Since the network was established in 1993, Childwatch International has been involved in several international collaborative research projects. Listed below are major projects of which Childwatch has been a part. Some are still active projects organized through other networks and agencies, and partly supported by Childwatch International.

The Childhoods 2005 Oslo conference proved a good opportunity for Childwatch International to initiate and support study groups that deal with important issues on the international child research agenda. The study groups consist of members from Childwatch Key Institutions as well as researchers from outside of the network. The groups are organized within a geographical region or globally. Programs for each session during the conference as well as more information on each group and contact details can be found on the Childhoods 2005 Oslo conference web site.

In the three years including 2010 to 2012 the macro project, “Protecting Early Childhood from Violence¨ (Protegiendo la Primero Infancia de la Violencia or PPIV) was implemented as a pilot project to increase awareness, promote education and foster change in regards to violence against children in the particularly vulnerable sectors of the Comunas (impoverished communities) numbered Comuna #13 and Comuna #8 in Medellin Colombia. The program was implemented through the efforts of 3 major players along with 17 other organizations or entities. These 3 main players were the Institute for Children’s Rights and Development (IRCD) based in the University of Victoria in Canada, the International Center for Education and Human Development (CINDE) based in Sabaneta, Colombia and the International Child Developent Program (ICDP) in Norway.

INCHES - the International Research and Information Network on Children's Health, Environment and Safety is a global network of people and organisations interested in promoting the protection of children from environmental and safety hazards. INCHES is also a former Childwatch International project. Inches still runs as a global network of people and organisations interested in promoting the protection of children from environmental and safety hazards.

In 1999, the Childwatch International Advisory Board decided to focus on a new priority area: assessing the effects of children's participation in decision-making on the children themselves, on the institutions that foster participatory processes, on families and on communities. This is a Former project which continued in the work of the study group Children's Perception of Citizenship and Nation Building and the
regional network on Children's Participation in the Asia Pacific region

This is a former Childwatch Project. This Unesco-sponsered project still exists and was the first major international effort to document the quality of life of urban children in minority and majority Worlds. The Growing Up in Cities project was a replication of the original study by urban planner Kevin Lynch in 1977. The goal of the project was to document some of the human costs and benefits of economic development by showing how the child’s use and perception of the resulting microenvironment affect his or her life and personal development.

This study group aimed at exploring the kinds of trouble often associated with young boys and the way this trouble is handled according to discourses of trouble and conflict and discourse of masculinity and about growing up in different parts of the world.

This group works to define the concept of trafficking in a way that may guide a targeted response from the communities involved. In addition it works to elaborate strategies for research and practice based on an understanding of the nature of trafficking within different cultural and geographical contexts.

The objective of this project was to create a framework that included monitoring and reporting guidelines for reporting on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, linking children’s rights within the human rights context to environmental and health rights through the harmonisation of various monitoring and reporting systems.

The aim of this former project was to examine the significance of political and economic transformations in the lives of children, that is, to study how various global trends affect the lives and conditions of children. Another closely linked goal was to outline how the well-being of children can persist and be increased in a changing world.

A session on children the connections between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and contemporary knowledge and theoretical developments in research on childhood in Africa was organized at the Childhoods 2005 Oslo conference. This resulted in a special issue of the African Journal of AIDS Research.

This study group aims at gathering existing data and experiences in order to present “best practices” within different institutionalized care arrangements for children outside the family. It is jointly organized and funded by the conference secretariat and Childwatch International. It has members from Childwatch Key Institutions in England, Ireland and Norway (NOVA) as well as members, from Sweden and the USA. The group met twice in 2004.